The Political Economy of Imperialism: Critical Appraisals

267 Pages·1999·5.83 MB·English

by  Ronald H. Chilcote (auth.)

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
OF IMPERIALISM:
Critical Appraisals
RECENT ECONOMICTHOUGHTSERIES
Editors:
Warren 1.Samuels William Darity,Jr.
Michigan State University UniversityofNorth Carolina
East Lansing,Michigan, USA Chapel Hill,North Carolina,USA
Otherbooksin theseries:
Davis,John B.:THE STATE OFTHE INTERPRETATION OFKEYNES
Wells,Paul:POST-KEYNESIAN ECONOMICTHEORY
Hoover, Kevin D.:MACROECONOMETRICS:
DEVELOPMENTS,TENSIONS AND PROSPECTS
Kendrick,Johnw.:THE NEW SYSTEMS OF NATURALACCOUNTS
Groenewegen,John:TRANSACTION COSTECONOMICS AND BEYOND
King,1.E.:AN ALTERNATIVE MACROECONOMICTHEORY
Schofield,Norman:COLLECTIVEDECISION-MAKING:SOCIAL CHOICE
AND POLITICAL ECONOMY
Menchik,Paul L.: HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY ECONOMICS
Gupta,Kanhaya L.:EXPERIENCESWITH FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION
Cohen,Avi 1.,Hagemann,Harald,and Smithin,John:
MONEY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND MACROECONOMICS
Mason, P.L. andWilliams,R.M.:
RACE,MARKETS,AND SOCIAL OUTCOMES
Gupta,SatyaDev:THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OFGLOBALIZATION
Fisher,R.C:INTERGOVERNMENTAL FISCAL RELATIONS
Mariussen, A.and Wheelock,1.:
HOUSEHOLDS,WORK AND ECONOMIC CHANGE:
A COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONALPERSPECTIVE
Gupta,SatyaDev:GLOBALIZATION,GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY
Gupta,SatyaDev:DYNAMICSOFGLOBALIZATIONAND DEVELOPMENT
Medema,StevenG.:COASEAN ECONOMICS:LAW AND ECONOMICSAND
THENEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS
Peoples,James: REGULATORY REFORM AND LABOR MARKETS
Dennis,Ken:RATIONALITY IN ECONOMICS:ALTERNATIVE
PERSPECTIVES
Ahiakpor,James c.w.: KEYNES ANDTHE CLASSICS RECONSIDERED
Wolfson,Murray:THE POLITICALECONOMY OFWARAND PEACE
Jain,A.K.: ECONOMICS OFCORRUPTION
Wheelock,1.andVail,1.:WORK AND IDLENESS:THE POLITICAL
ECONOMY OFPULLEMPLOYMENT
Dean,James M.and Waterman,A.M.C.: RELITION AND ECONOMICS:
NORMATIVE SOCIALTHEORY
Gupta,Kanhaya:FOREIGN AID: NEW PERSPECTIVES
Macdonald,R.and Stein,1.:EQUILIBRIUM EXCHANGE RATES
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
OF IMPERIALISM:
Critical Appraisals
edited by
Ronald M. Chilcote
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, California
~.
"
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The political economy of imperialism: critical appraisals I edited by
Ronald H. Chilcote
p. cm. - (Recent economic thought series: 70)
ISBN 978-94-010-5895-7 ISBN 978-94-011-4409-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-4409-4
1. Imperialism - Economic aspects. 2. Capitalism. 3. Economic
development. 1. Chilcote, Ronald H. II. Series.
JC359.P58 1999
338.9 - dc21 99-12023
CIP
Copyright © 1999 by Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York in 1999
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover I st edition 1999
AII rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photo
copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the pub
lisher, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Printed an acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Preface VII
Ronald H.Chilcote
Introduction 1
Ronald H. Chilcote
PARTI IMPERIALISM:ITS LEGACY AND CONTEMPORARY
SIGNIFICANCE
Chapter1 WhateverHappened to Imperialism? 19
M. C. Howard and 1.E. King
Chapter2 Imperialism Revisited 41
Michael Barratt Brown
Chapter3 Imperialismin Retrospect 65
Anthony Brewer
Chapter4 Hobson'sImperialism:ItsHistoricalValidityand
Contemporary Relevance 85
Gregory P Nowell
PARTII IMPERIALISMAND DEVELOPMENT
Chapter5 EarlyMarxistCritiquesofCapitalist Development 113
JohnWilloughby
Chapter6 Marxismand EurocentricDiffusionism 127
1.M. Blaut
Chapter7 Dependencyand Imperialismin Latin America:
New Horizons 141
Ronaldo Munck
VI
PARTIII GLOBALISM ORIMPERIALISM?
Chapter8 Capitalism,Imperialism,Globalization 157
SamirAmin
Chapter9 Onthe PitfallsofBourgeoisInternationalism 169
Prabhat Patnaik
Chapter 10 Globalization:A CriticalAnalysis 181
James Petras
Bibliography 215
Biographies 251
Index 255
PREFACE
This book brings together important essays by distinguished scholars who have
devoted past attention to the study of imperialism and development. It comple
ments an anthology ofpreviously published essays that brings together important
theoreticalperspectivesaroundtheissuesanddebatesonthesethemes;thisvolume
will be published by Humanity Press (forthcoming). Both projects relate to a
lengthychapter"TheoriesofImperialism,"whichwillbepublishedinmybook The
oriesofComparative PoliticalEconomy (Forthcoming).These projects represent a
culmination of many years of teaching in both economics and political science.
Duringthat time Itaught two politicalsciencecoursesondevelopmentand under
development, but I was unable to convince my colleagues of the usefulness of a
courseonimperialismthatlinkedhistoricalissuesanddebateswiththemorerecent
developmental literature. When in 1990 I was welcomed into economics, my col
leaguesendorsedagraduateseminaronthepoliticaleconomyofimperialism.Thus,
this volume evolved out ofthat experience in an effort to encourage new analysis
that reflects retrospectivelyon pastcontributionsaswell as the prospectsfor impe
rialism and development in the contemporaryworld.
I appreciate the support of colleagues who understood the usefulness of this
approach and especially the students who participated in the seminars,confronted
the material, and became sensitive to the issues and debates through weekly dis
cussionand position papersand whose comprehensionin turn led tosome modest
theoretical breakthroughs. I also would like to thank Elvia Ramiriz, a graduate
student in sociology at the University of California, Riverside, for her assistance
in the initial phase oforganizing this volume. I am also grateful for the dedicated
efforts ofKrista Eissfeldt,presently a graduate student at Indiana University,who
ultimatelybroughtthisprojecttorest. Finally,mywife,Frances,steppedintoAssist
withcoordinationofthe final proofs,especiallybibliographical references. Ishould
alsoliketothankWarrenSamuelsandWilliamDarity,EditorsoftheSeriesinEco
nomic Thought of Kluwer Academic Publishers, and Zachary Rolnik, Editor, for
their encouragement and for ensuring this project through publication. Finally, I
acknowledge the modestfinancial supportofthe ResearchCommitteeofthe UCR
Academic Senate.
Ronald H. Chilcote
INTRODUCTION
Ronald H. Chilcote
Thisvolumeemanatesfrom severalconcernsandinterests.First,itdepartsfrom the
fundamental premise that capitalism in itsevolving and consolidated forms under
liesquestionsandtheoriesofimperialismanddevelopment.Second,itassumesthat
the foundations for a theory ofimperialism and development trace to early classi
calwritingson politicaleconomy,and,inparticular,toDavidRicardo,AdamSmith,
and Karl Marx. Marx, for example, analyzed the logic of the capitalist system,
drawing largely upon the European experience,especially in England. He focused
on capitalism in terms ofaccumulation,commodification,circulation,and produc
tion,maximization of profit,and so on.Third,this volume acknowledges that both
positiveand negativeconsequencesaccompanied thepenetrationofcapitalismand
thedevelopmentofthe forces and meansofproductionthoughoutthe world.Marx
and Engels,for instance,assessed these impactsfor Irelandand India:whereascap
italismwasexpectedtosweepawaythelegacyofprecapitalistsocialformationsand
promote progress in India,protective measures might permit autonomus develop
ment in Ireland in the face ofitsdominant neighbor,England (Mohri,1989).
Understandingsofimperialism at the turn ofthe century emphasized the reper
cussionsofadvancedcapitalismforimperialEuropeandtheoutlyingcolonies.Most
interpretationscondemnedimperialism,yettheprevailingideasaboutdevelopment
emanatingfrom the advancedcapitalistcenterstraditionally tended to assume that
eventuallythese positivetrendscould bediffusedto the lessdevelopedandpoorer
nationsofthe world.After theSecondWorldWarand with thefall ofempires and
the imperial schemes ofEngland,France,Portugal,and other European countries,
the newly emerging nations ofAfrica,Asia,and Latin America began to question
diffusionist and capitalist development.Their criticism drew from the literature of
imperialism in the search for understanding about their poverty,exploitation, and
lack ofdevelopment.The links between explanationsofimperialism and underde
velopment were not always clear, however, and indeed after 1945, intellectuals
worked hard at promoting new alternative ideasand theories.
The classical writers of imperialism wrote about the exploitation of the non
capitalist world.The contemporary writers of underdevelopment and dependency
also dwelled on social formations outside the advanced capitalist world. For both
2 Ronald H. Chilcote
classicalandcontemporarywriters,theirtheoriesofcapitalismwerefounded onthe
experience of the noncapitalist, precapitalist, or emerging capitalist world. The
former tended to emphasize external dimensions of international production and
trade, and the latter attempted to direct attention to internal aspects. Sometimes
their offeringswere polemical rather than substantive and theoretical,but the lan
guage of their discourse, whether worked around imperialism or developmental
questions,becamesynonymouswitheithertheprogressiveor negativeimplications
of capitalism. Where the discourse around imperialism became polemical, many
politicaleconomiststurnedtodevelopment and toquestionsofunderdevelopment
and dependencyand in the processsometimes skirted attention from fundamental
issuesofcapitalism.
During the late 1970s and the 1980s, the discourse changed as authoritarian
regimes collapsed, first in southern Europe and in the southern cone of South
America where dictatorships had reigned,and,second,in Eastern Europe and the
Soviet Union where bureauratic socialist experiments succumbed. Even before
thesechangesboththeWorldBankandtheInternationalMonetaryFundhadcome
to exerciseconsiderablecontroloverstrugglingdomesticeconomiesin many parts
ofthe world.Accompanyingthe political openings most nations turned awayfrom
possible solutions to build autonomous capitalist or socialist development from
withinand movedtowardtheworldeconomybydivestingthestateofpublicenter
prise and opening up trade to the outside world. During the 1990s the language
of development and imperialism began to assimilate the term globalization to
express the pervasiveand expansiveworldeconomy,but fundamentally the princi
pal concern waswith capitalismand its impact.Whether weexamine transnational
ormultinationalcorporations,international political economy,orfinance capital,it
is important to recognize that the world economy and the global system are inher
ently capitalist,and have been soat least since Marx's time.1
This volume departs from this assumption, and this introduction seeks to guide
the reader into the essays that follow.They cluster in three major ways. First, the
bulkofthem review the literatureonimperialism and reinterpretitscontemporary
importance in understanding world historical developments since the nineteenth
century. Second,several essays critically assess how capitalism is a foundation for
both imperialist and development theory.Third,some essaysdelve into contempo
rary issues of imperialism and look at and critically assess alternative theoretical
formulations such as globalization.
Imperialism,ItsHistorical Legacyand Contemporary Significance
Imperialism derives from the Latin word imperator, which connotated autocratic
powerand centralizedgovernment.Initsbroadmeaning,imperialisminvolves"the
domination byonecountryorgroupofpeopleoverothersin waysthat benefitthe
former usuallyat the expenseofthe latter"(Griffin and Gurley,1985:1091).Impe
rialismduringRomantimesreinforcedthetraditionallocalrulinghierarchies,while
modern imperialism generated a new basis of power among subject populations.
In France, for example, during the 1830s imperialism was associated with those
who wished to restore the Napoleonic Empire, and after 1848 it was used pejora-
Introduction 3
tively to describe the pretensions ofNapoleon Bonaparte. Duringthe 1870sit was
employed as a characterization of the practices of expanding British colonialism,
andbytheendofthecenturyitwascommonplaceindescriptionsofthedominance
ofone nation overanother (Cohen,1973:10-11).
The traditional or old meaning ofimperialism was tied to mercantile capitalism
and the early phase ofindustrial capitalism. Imperialism under early mercantilism
was based,from about 1500to 1800,on the dominanceofSpain,withitscontrol of
preciousmetalsinSouthAmerica,andtoalesserextent,Portugal,through itscom
mercial pointsofcontact inAfrica,Asia,and LatinAmericaand its trade inspices,
slaves,and ivory.The Portuguese hegemonysuccumbedlargely toSpainduringthe
late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries when the monarchies were unified
underSpanishcontrol.AsSpainand Portugallostcontrolovermaritime traffic,the
Dutch,then the English,and finally the French expanded their influence as slaves
movedfromAfricatotheAmericas,sugarfrom theAmericastoEurope,and man
ufactured goodsfrom Europe toAfrica.
Thisoldimperialismwassupplantedbyanunderstandingofthenewimperialism,
usually referring to the intense rivalry ofthe advanced European nations,symbol
ized in the scramble for Africa and the Berlin Conference of 1885 but more con
spicuousatthe turn ofthiscentury.Someofthe problemsevidentin this transition
include the link between industrial capitalism of the late eighteenth century in
Britain and primitive accumulation; the division of labor between primary
producing underdeveloped states and industrialized states; the cause of U.S. and
Europeanexpansionattheendofthenineteenthcentury;theoriginofexportcapital
from Europe;the role ofthe largefirm asan accumulatorofcapitaland the impact
on imperialism;the relationshipofneocolonialism and the oldcolonialism;and the
similarityofSovietimperialismtocapitalistimperialism(BarrattBrown,1974).
This historical context and the various interpretations provide a backdrop for
some of the now classical conceptualizations of imperialism.The major thinkers
include the following:
lA. Hobson, the English liberal who emphasized underconsumptionism as an
explanation.
Rudolf Hilferding, the Austrian Marxist economist who elaborated on finance
capital.
Nicolai Bukharin,the Russian Marxist theorist who linked accumulation to world
capitalism.
Karl Kautsky, the Marxist theoretician who advocated a theory of ultra-
imperialismandenvisionedapeacefulresolutionthroughprogressivecapitalism.
V. I.Lenin,the Russian Marxist and revolutionary whostressed monopolycapital.
Rosa Luxemburg,aGerman Marxistwhoanalyzedaccumulationinthe hinterland.
Joseph Schumpeter,an economist who envisioned the withering away ofimperial-
ism with the advance ofindustrial capitalism.
All these thinkers were antiimperialist, but they differed in their views ofcapital
ism and socialism. Lenin, influenced by Hobson, and sharing with Hilferding and
Bukharin what has become characterized as a classical Marxist understanding of